Principles And Practice Of American Politics Classic And Contemporary Readings 3rd Edition

This collection examines the strategic behavior of key players in American politics from the Founding Fathers to the Super PACs, by showing that political actors, though motivated by their own interests, are governed by the Constitution, the law, and institutional rules, as well as influenced by the strategies of others.

Without ever losing sight of the classics, Kernell and Smith take a fresh look at the implications of political science for our understanding of recent events and trends. This balance of the classic with the contemporary-along with careful editing to retain the flow of original pieces-distinguishes this highly regarded reader. Drawing from a variety of sources and perspectives, readings examine the strategic behavior of key players in American politics. These 44 selections show that political actors, though motivated by their own interests, are governed by the Constitution, the law, and institutional rules, as well as influenced by the strategies of others. Thanks to feedback from adopters, 26 readings are back by popular demand, while 17 new or revised selections offer readable and current analyses, 5 of which have been written specifically for this volume. Kernell and Smith supply helpful headnotes for each reading, establishing important context and rationale for selections

Combining timeless readings with cutting-edge articles and essays, Principles and Practice of American Politics, Seventh Edition, enriches your understanding of the American political system by examining the strategic behavior of key players in U.S. politics. This collection of classic and contemporary readings brings concepts to life by providing you with real examples of how political actors are influenced by the strategies of others and are governed by the Constitution, the law, and institutional rules. Carefully edited by award-winning authors Samuel Kernell and Steven S. Smith, each reading is put into context to help you understand how political actions fall within a major national political forum. New to the Seventh Edition Nine new and updated essays encourage you to reflect on the continuing debates over the polarization of the American electorate and Congress, the role of social media and “fake news” in influencing public views of politicians and issues, the fragile Trump coalition, the efficacy of polling in tracking public opinion, and other issues more relevant than ever in the wake of the 2016 elections. Additional essays challenge you to think more carefully about alternative institutions and political arrangements. The new essays present institutions of majority rule, the nature of racial discrimination, and the proper role of the court as less settled issues that provide students an opportunity to think through (and discuss) their views on the future direction of American civic life. Each selection is artfully framed by Kernell and Smith’s contextual headnotes to make them appropriate for classroom use. Original readings written specifically for the volume give the book a coherent treatment of the performance of U.S. political institutions.

Philip Roth scholars continue to reflect on what Philip Roth’s retirement in 2012 means for the landscape of American literature and what his professed disappearance from the public eye in 2014 would mean for the future consideration of his legacy. This collection seeks to answer those questions in a scholarly way. Composed of eleven original essays written by accomplished scholars in the field of Philip Roth Studies, the collection is both relevant and engaging on three levels: it is the first of its kind to offer a scholarly retrospective of Roth’s works and career; it considers Roth within the American literary imagination; and it speculates on Roth’s legacy—particularly the enduring quality of his novels that will continue to resonate long after his retirement.

Regional governance is a topical public policy issue and is receiving increased attention from scholars, government officials and civic leaders. As countries continue to urbanize and centralize economic functions and population in metropolitan regions, the traditional governing system is not equipped to handle policy issues that spill over local government boundaries. Governments have utilized four basic approaches to address the regional governing problem: consolidating governments, adding a regional tier, creating regional special districts, and functional cooperative approaches. The first two are structural approaches that require major (radical) changes to the governing system. The latter two are governance approaches that contemplate marginal changes to the existing governance structure and rely generally on cooperation with other governments and collaboration with the nongovernmental sector. Canada and the United States have experimented with these basic forms of regional governance. This book is a systematic analysis of these basic forms as they have been experienced by North American cities. Utilizing cases from Canada and the United States, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the pros and cons of each approach to regional governance. This research provides an additional perspective on Canadian and U.S. regional governance and adds to the knowledge of Canadian and United States governing systems. This study contributes to the literature on the various approaches to regional governance as well as bringing together the most current literature on regional governance. The author develops a framework of the values that a regional governing system should provide and measures to assess how well each basic approach achieves these values. Based on this assessment, he suggests an approach to regional governance for North American metropolitan areas that best achieves these values.